Otsego County Board Considers Lifting Tax Cap

The Otsego County Board of Representatives is considering action to remove the 2% property-tax cap in preparing its 2021 budget, a motion proposed by Board Chair David Bliss. According to AllOTSEGO, the board passed a motion at its August meeting on Wednesday and now a public hearing will need to be held before the Board’s September 2 session to enable the legislators to act at that point if they decide to go ahead with it. It's not clear how a public hearing would be held at this time. County Attorney Ellen Coccoma was given the task of researching how that could be done.

Like other municipalities, Otsego County is facing a large revenue shortfall because of the coronavirus outbreak. According to County Treasurer Allen Ruffles, sales tax revenues are down $7 million; bed tax, $1.2 million, and state reimbursements, $4 million.

For more details on this story provided in partnerships with AllOTSEGO, click here.